Road Trip NO Aircraft Sightings

[juredd1]

I'm a young pup compared to some on this forum, I'm only 43 and have been flying since 2003. According to my Uncle I missed out on the good years of aviation. Of course he's in his mid 70's and has been flying for close to 45 years. The closest public airport to use to Harrison (HRO) and that is where he learned to fly. He said every weekend he would be out there and there would be a regular bunch of guys there shooting the bull and going flying. Once he got his own grass strip by his house he still says every weekend there would 4 or 5 planes at his place or he would be at the Harrison airport blowing with the guys. Good times he says that he would love to see somewhere again.
More than once he has said the new airport management killed it at that airport. At that time there was two FBO's on the field, one on the north end and one on the south end. The guy on the south end was they guy that knew how to bring folks in. It wasn't about selling gas and making money it was about flying. If you bought gas fine if you was there just to talk flying fine. When he died the city closed the FBO on the south end and the other FBO was only interested in one thing and that was making money, not in having a good atmosphere for pilots. He still goes by there when he drives to town, as a couple old buddies still have planes there but he rarely sees those guys there.

He has a passion for flying that I am not sure I will every have. His wife enjoyed flying but has been gone for close to 20 years (cancer took her), pretty much all of his flying buds either gave it up or have passed on as well. So I think he feels like he's pretty much a loaner when it comes to flying in these parts. I have my plane hangered at his place and we go together when I can get the time, but with a job, wife and two young kids that is not as much as he or I would like. He still fly's 3-4 times a week (weather permitting) just because he can. He just said the other day if he didn't really love to fly he would have given it up years ago.

I learned to fly in Conway (CWS) and it seemed that was a hoppin' place 10 years ago with a few hanger doors open each weekend day but not as active as he makes it sound like it was 20 years ago in Harrison.

One day a couple months ago we flew over to bug one of my newly acquired friends (He married one of my wife's cousins, he just start to get interested in flying and is taking lessons) and after we got back home and before I could put the plane away we had another plane heading our way. Well.... we said, that plane is going to land...it ended up being a brother to a local guy that was just out and about and had landed on this strip many moons ago. Well over the next few months he came back several times and his brother would come pick him up for a visit.

I know this is a long story but it's good for me if no one else.

On the positive side, Cub Crafters is making a plane a week and is back-ordered for around 6 months.

Since you brought it up Richard.......

So on a Tuesday a couple weeks ago this guy came back over and brought 4 or 5 Cubs with him. This guy flys a Maule and so does a buddy of his. So 2 Maules and 4 Cubs I think all landed at my Uncles grass strip. I did not get to make it over there even though I was 2 miles away at home, my uncle thought I was out of town (Most every Tuesday I'm on Little Rock) so he didn't call. He called me later that day, after they had departed and said you just missed some fun and went on to explain what had happened. Said I think they will be back Saturday. So come Friday I'm back at home working and my wife comes in, says I think your uncle is flying but it don't look like his plane. I go on working and a bit later I keep hearing lots of strange planes and I go outside to take a look and yepper I can only see one but hear several. Call him up and asked if he was having a airshow over there and he said no but there's a bunch on the ground and more are coming in. Ended up with 13 Cubs on the ground.

I call my boss which is an retired Air Force pilot and explain the situation and he says he jealous but I can take a couple hours for lunch and I head over. Pretty awesome site to say the least. Scot Warren from Warren Aircraft and a bunch of guys were in their Super Cub's and Carbon Cub's just out and about looking for back country strips to land on. See this was the weekend for the Ozark Backcountry Fly-In even at Gastons. So there was guys there from all over the country. My uncle had told them about my strip on Tuesday and had taken one guy over there. It's about 2 miles to south and I was invited to take a ride in a Carbon Cub so 12 of them made the trek to my strip.

Needless to say these guys made mine and my Uncle's day. Never imagined I would have 12 airplanes land on my strip much less all at one time. It even brought the neighbors out to visit. This was the weekend of Memorial day and one of the big Cemetery's is just down the road from my strip and on that Sunday I was confronted by several people asking me about what was going on and how much they enjoyed the planes flying through the area. I guess they get tired of seeing the same two airplanes coming by (A Champ and a 170). One guy said I was up in the field digging up thistles and saw all these planes come off and they turned on that point right there and went out of site. Thought they crashed and had to go check it out. He said I drove up there and they were all over your field. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

My Uncle and I flew down to Gastons on Saturday to watch the CubCrafters short field take off/landings and flower bombing competition. One of the best flying weeks I have had since becoming a pilot.

Those Cub guys were really a nice bunch of folks. Real appreciative that we allowed them access to our strips.

Again real sorry for the very long post but just had a story to tell and thought I'd tell it here.

Here's a link to a few photos I took if interested.

https://goo.gl/photos/2dhzFYM3XPtP383t5
Justin

[hilltop170]

Good story Justin, don't apologize for a long story, everyone enjoys them. If the mood ever strikes to write another one we are always looking for articles for the Flypaper and 170 news.

Scot Warren is the guy I have been ferrying the Carbon Cubs for. He is a real good guy, glad you got to meet him. Those 900lb 180hp Carbon Cubs really climb.

[blueldr]

Richard P.,

About those 900 lb. Cubs; Will they run on mogas ???

[170C]

Enjoyed your story and photos Justin. Waiting for more.

[cessna170bdriver]

...According to my Uncle I missed out on the good years of aviation. ...

I think every generation says that. My Dad learned to fly in 1955, and one of his favorite sayings was that he considered himself 20 years too young to have really enjoyed the "Golden Age" of aviation, and 20 years too old to really enjoy the miniskirt.

[DaveF]

My 19 year old son, who gets to fly Dad's 170 whenever he likes, thinks THIS is the golden age of aviation.

[juredd1]

Those 900lb 180hp Carbon Cubs really climb.

Richard,

You are not kidding. It was awesome to take a ride in one. I bet you really enjoy those 1000 mile trips flying those things. When we were on on my strip Scot was talking to some of the guys about how they were going to proceed out and he said now just wait until you see the next guy rise into view before taking off, the guy said no one will dropping below eye level when they take off. Scot said oh yes they will....See the first 800 feet or so of my strip is a gradual down hill slope and then a decent drop and then it levels out for about 500 feet or so. So from midway of the strip you can't see the bottom 500 feet. The point he was making is once he got off he was going to dive below the line of sight and climb, climb, climb. Several just went out and up (pretty good up as well) but a few went out , made the dive out of site and then what seemed from the go ground go almost vertical.

I noticed when during the short take off competition that they would pull flaps (I love where the flap handle is on these planes) after rolling the first 50 feet or so and then it would just go. Does that flap trick only work on underweight over powered airplanes or is there some usage of that, that can work on the 170's?

I flew yesterday and saw plenty of people flying. It was hard just to get out onto the runway to take off.

I am sure it's places all over the country as well but when I was up in Idaho training after buying my 170 we flew into Sandpoint a lot as that is where my instructor was based from. Every time we were there it was busy. Lots of planes lined up waiting for fuel and many of the back country strips had several planes parked at them. Maybe it's the view out west that brings people out I don't know but it seems to have a lot more active fliers than back home.

Justin

[flyboy122]

My 19 year old son, who gets to fly Dad's 170 whenever he likes, thinks THIS is the golden age of aviation.

Dave,

As a former 19 year old who flew Dad's plane whenever he liked, I have to warn you that you are just ruining this poor kid! I mean he should be out underage drinking, smoking, knocking up girls, spending money he doesn't have, getting fat on the couch playing video games, etc.... Instead he's stuck learning useless things like responsibility, problem solving, self reliance, and on and on. Just how is he supposed to accumulate the sort of crushing debt that other kids his age are piling up at record rates? This is damn near un-American!

These scars run deep. Do you know how embarrassing to actually know how to fix something? To have some sort of comprehension how mechanical things work? To be able to handle pressure and make decisions on his own? How is he supposed to get a job with that kind of stigma on his resume? And the looks he'll get when tells people his family has a plane. Might as well be a leper! Worse yet, he'll probably pass it on to his kids some day. Trust me, it happens. Despite my wife's best efforts I'm subjecting my kids to this horror right now. Poor buggers, they are going to go to school and ask dumb questions, "What color airplane does your family have?" only find out they are the weird ones.

I'd tell you to stop but obviously it's too late. Another life changed for the better by the most incredible gift anyone could ever give. Acchhh! When will it end?

DEM

[hilltop170]

Richard P.,

About those 900 lb. Cubs; Will they run on mogas ???

No they are not rated for mogas. With a 9.0:1 compression rating that would be pushing it. They are a stroked O-320 pushing displacement to 340cu.in. The 180hp limit is 5min for takeoff and climb only and 80hp continuous, adjusting rpm with altitude.

[jmurtap]

I want to go to that event so bad, but I couldn't get out of working. Justin, I have tried the TO techniques in this backcountry video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfXT38YIO6g I don't have any hard numbers to report, and I have a long ways to go to perfecting it, but it cuts my TO roll down significantly vs a normal TO or normal TO with 10 or 20 degree flaps. Timed right and just like the video says I'm airborne in ground effect before my airspeed is alive. At my home airport they have a grass cut out available for use between the taxi ways that is roughly 1200' long and parallels the runway. In normal configuration on pavement I can just barely get off in that distance, using these techniques (while on pavement) I can be airborne using approximately in 6-800'. I've never been able to get close to that with a normal procedure. For me the backcountry techniques work well.. It is however a hand full reaching down and grabbing the flap handle while everything else is going on. In the event I actually get to go into the backcountry I will be glad to have this in my tool box.

Also want to share this last weekend my wife and I headed out to give our new camera a test and get some more pictures of the airplane. Also we had planed on give an old high school friend and his kids a ride. Typically since we have owned the airplane and been going to the airport regularly its pretty much just been us, maybe one other person kicking it around (not flying), its a shame and disappointing. However this weekend has renewed my hope for aviation at least locally. I went out and flew some photo runs, landed and waited in the terminal for our friends to arrive.

Mean while we noticed a truck and trailer unloading stuff at the tee hangers. We went over to say hi and turns out to be a local balloon pilot, setting up for a launch. He invited us to help, and I jumped at the chance.

Tell you what seeing that balloon go from a bag to a mountain of air was impressive.

Getting hands on was an experience for sure. After he launched, I took our friends up (who also arrived in time to help with the balloon) and we got to circle the balloon in flight (pre-coordinated).

His kids and I were just in aww of such a moment, then we went and did the usual flew over there house and came back and picked up his 2 other kids. After we got back from that a local pilot landed and we were all enjoying the air condition for a moment. Turns out the local pilot is based at our airport and just purchased an rv, younger gentleman, anyways we both were headed out for a little more flying before the sun set, and I asked him if he could slow the rv down to 100kts? He asked why you want to do some formation flying? Aww man do I ever!!! Me and the father went out and I have to say seeing that rv just hanging in my window was the coolest thing I've witnessed to date.

We did a photo run and went our separate ways. Myself, my wife, our friends and kids were completely shocked at how much aviation we were able to experience in one afternoon, all at home base!!! I can only hope this continues to build momentum!!

[jmurtap]

Last two pics I wanted to share, couldn't get them all in one post.

[DaveF]

Justin, that's a great story and really good pictures. Nice strip you have there!

I'd tell you to stop but obviously it's too late.

I feel so guilty ... I'm a bad parent.

[hilltop170]

It's good to hear the positive stories, events like these go on all the time but unless you are there you never see them.

On another positive note, for those who want to stay connected with aviation activities, www.socialflight.com is a website that keeps track of them and you can personalize the results to your local area so you are always aware of local aviation events. A weekly email is sent out with a listing of the local aviation events for the next week or two. I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of events in Texas every week.

[GAHorn]

The price of avgas is too high and too many guys are afraid of mogas.

I'm not afraid of mogas, just ethanol - ethanol in mogas that is not the kind in beer.

It burns my throat and ruins my small engine carburetors so why would I ever put it in my airplane...!!